


My Darling Serpentine

by Demus



Category: Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Dragons, Dragons, Ficlet, just a silly idea at this stage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-03
Updated: 2018-09-03
Packaged: 2019-07-06 05:03:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15879102
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Demus/pseuds/Demus
Summary: No one ever said it would be easy, teaching unruly lizard monsters - particularly when one of them is frightened of the paranormal...Ficlet/teaser for the 'Buzzfeed Unsolved' dragon!trainer!au that literally no one asked for.





	My Darling Serpentine

“Ryan-”

“Don’t think I can’t sense you, demons!”

“Ryan-”

“I know exactly where you are!”

“Ry-”

“And you can’t have my Shane!”

“Ryan,” Shane snapped, irritation finally overriding his amusement. He smacked the wall of scaled flesh that surrounded him, wincing when all it earned him was a bruised palm. “I swear to God, Bergara, if you don’t let me out right now-”

There was a cavernous sigh, like the rush of air from a heavy door slamming shut, then the walls began to shift and recede. Shane fought the urge to shiver as the freezing night air whispered against his skin, folding his arms and tilting his head back to glare at his charge. 

Ryan studied him right back, the spiked ridges over his dark eyes drawn down in confusion. “You’re cross.”

“Of course I’m-” With an effort, Shane reined himself in. Young dragons, particularly young male dragons, were sensitive to emotional outbursts. “I’m not cross,” he said, with a calm he didn’t feel. “But you can’t just wrap around humans like that with no warning, what if I’d reacted badly? You could have squashed me.”

The enormous creature had the temerity to look offended. “I would never squash you!” he protested, the aggravated lash of his tail whipping up a frenzy of autumnal leaves from the forest floor. 

“Not on purpose, you wouldn’t.” Shane watched Ryan absorb the new possibility, wincing as both sets of his wings drooped. The feathered frill around his neck, its riotous colours cast into dull greys by the moonlight, fell flat against his neck and the youngster began to curl in on himself, the long loops of his serpentine body twisting into tight coils.

“Maybe it would be better if I did squash you,” the dragon retorted, defensively. He shook out his mane, turning his head first one way then the next, to study Shane with each eye in turn. “At least that would be quick, and you wouldn’t have all of your gooey bits pulled out by demons.”

Shane rolled his eyes. “Demons aren’t real. And even if they were, you are a gigantic acid-spitting flying lizard monster, there’s a fairly good chance you’d win in a fight with one.”

Ryan sniffed. “It’s not acid, it’s venom.”

“You say potato…”

“Shut up, Shane.”

"Now, now, is that any way to speak to your teacher?"

Ryan snorted, which wouldn't have been alarming if his fangs had been retracted. As it was, he narrowly missed bathing Shane in a hot, steaming stream of the aforementioned venom - the human barely had time to register what had happened before he was once again encased in an impenetrable scaly prison.

Shane groaned, listening to the sound of a very young, very stressed dragon hyperventilating itself into a state of pure panic. He definitely should have left this one to Sara.

**Author's Note:**

> N.B. Ryan, in my head, is a cross between Bakunawa and Quetzalcoatl, to reflect his heritage. He’s serpentine, like a Japanese dragon, with four feathered wings and a feathery mane to go with his more reptilian features. I see him as alternating between snake-like movement and using one set of wings plus his hind legs to get about when he’s on the ground. He’s only young here,so he’s not really grown into his wings or his limbs yet. Also, I picture him with a broad, snub-nosed sort of face - partially due to his ancestry, and partly to replicate actual!Ryan’s gopher cheeks… I also like the idea of him being somehow venomous, like a spitting cobra.
> 
> I'm really not sure how to proceed with this? Or if it warrants a continuation? Hey-ho!


End file.
